Rector of the University of Edinburgh

The Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh is elected every three years by the students and staff at the University of Edinburgh. Seldom referred to as Lord Rector, the incumbent is more commonly known just as the Rector.

The position of Rector, along with the positions of Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, was only created in 1858. Prior to this, the University was governed by the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and town council of Edinburgh. The rector's place in the university was codified by statute of the Westminster Parliament, the Universities (Scotland) Act 1889, which provided for the election of a Rector at all universities then in existence in Scotland. To this day only the ancient universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and St Andrews plus the newer Dundee, elect a Rector; the 20th century universities do not.

Successful candidates are typically well-known figures with some connection to the city. Gordon Brown was unusual in being elected at the age of 21 while still a student, several years before he became politically prominent.

The 2009 election was won by political journalist Iain Macwhirter. Macwhirter defeated Labour peer and MSP George Foulkes to become the University's 50^th Rector, earning 4822 votes, or 69% of the total vote. Respect MP George Galloway withdrew his candidacy on the 6th February 2009.

List of Rectors

• 1859 William Ewart Gladstone
• 1865 Thomas Carlyle
• 1868 James Moncreiff, 1st Baron Moncreiff
• 1871 Sir William Stirling-Maxwell
• 1874 Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby
• 1877 Spencer Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington
• 1880 Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
• 1883 Sir Stafford Northcote (from 1885 Earl of Iddesleigh)
• 1887 Schomberg Kerr, 9th Marquess of Lothian
• 1890 George Goschen
• 1893 James Robertson
• 1896 Alexander Bruce, 6th Lord Balfour of Burleigh
• 1899 Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava
• 1902 Sir Robert Finlay
• 1905 Richard Haldane
• 1908 George Wyndham
• 1911 Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto
• 1914 Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
• 1917 David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty
• 1920 David Lloyd George
• 1923 Stanley Baldwin
• 1926 Sir John Gilmour
• 1929 Winston Churchill
• 1932 General Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton
• 1935 Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby
• 1936 Sir Herbert John Clifford Grierson
• 1939 Sir J. Donald Pollock
• 1945 Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope
• 1948 Alastair Sim
• 1951 Sir Alexander Fleming
• 1954 Sir Sydney A. Smith
• 1957 James Robertson Justice
• 1960 Jo Grimond
• 1963 James Robertson Justice
• 1966 Malcolm Muggeridge
• 1969 Kenneth Allsop
• 1972 Jonathon W. G. Wills
• 1973 Gordon Brown
• 1976 Magnús Magnússon
• 1979 Very Rev. Anthony Ross
• 1982 David Steel
• 1985 Archie Macpherson
• 1988 Muriel Gray
• 1991 Donnie Munro
• 1994 Malcolm Macleod
• 1997 John Mark Colquhoun
• 2000 Robin Harper MSP
• 2003 Sir Tam Dalyell
• 2006 Mark Ballard
• 2009 Iain Macwhirter

Bibliography

• "List of rectors". Previously Answered Reference Questions. Edinburgh University Library. Retrieved 2006-07-29.
• "List of chancellors". Previously Answered Reference Questions. Edinburgh University Library. Retrieved 2006-07-29.
• Wintersgill, Donald (2005). The Rectors of the University of Edinburgh 1859-2000. Dunedin Academic Press. ISBN 1-903765-44-7.